


A Freshly Polished Boot

by White_Rainbow



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: Thrawn - Timothy Zahn
Genre: AU where Eli sticks around during the Fulcrum coverup, Angst with a Happy Ending, Demon!Empire AU, Demon!SupplyCowboy, Fluff and Angst, Kallus is Fulcrum, Lyste is Framed, M/M, SupplyCowboy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 16:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13127520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Rainbow/pseuds/White_Rainbow
Summary: The tale of how Lieutenant Lyste became the adorable Demon that haunts the Galactic Empire.





	A Freshly Polished Boot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nspamc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nspamc/gifts).



> A Christmas Gift to one of the most amazing, most talented people I know. Love you Pam! Thank you for building SupplyCowboy into something so adorable and beautiful!

**** The first time Commander Eli Vanto and Lieutenant Yogar Lyste met, there was a cup of caf between them.

Moments later, Lyste fumbled that cup and spilled caf all over Eli’s boots. 

Luckily, Eli had reacted quickly enough to save one boot, but the other was completely covered in the hot beverage.

“Oh! Commander!” Lyste squeaked, dropping to his knees. “I am sorry! Oh! Oh dear, it is everywhere. I...here!” 

“Really, it’s alright,” Eli blinked, watching the dark-haired lieutenant polish the boot with his own uniform sleeve. “I’ll just go to the fresher.”

“But it will soak into the leather!” Lyste cried. He knelt up, looking up at Eli with the most crystal blue eyes the Wild Space cowboy had ever seen. His thick, dark eyebrows were pulled up in a helpless plea and his reddened lips pouted in such a way that brought an unexpected warmth to Eli’s cheeks. “Please, let me clean them for you.”

Eli swallowed hard. “C-can you stand up, please? I’m not about to let your uniform get ruined over a simple mistake.”

Lyste rose to his feet, straightening his cap. “Of all the clumsiness...I do apologize this had to be our first meeting.”

Eli rubbed his neck. “Ain’t nothin’,” he said, then winced at his colloquialism. “I mean...I am happy to meet your acquaintance.”

“Please, allow me to buy you another caf.”

Eli frowned. “It was your caf that you spilled on me.”

“Oh...right…” Lyste’s narrow shoulders wilted.

“I would take a caf though. And I’ll buy. Nope! No arguments. It’s on me, to welcome you aboard the  _ Chimaera _ while you help with our supply officer training.”

Lyste’s eyes were positively dazzling. “Yes, please. Thank you, Commander.”

“Call me, Eli.”

The wide smile that spread across Lyste’s face was one Eli would remember for the rest of his life. “Thank you, Eli.”

\-----

Eli and Lyste spent the next few months catching any sliver of time they could to be together. 

Small moments in secluded hallways.

Stolen time to eat quick meals together.

Brief glances and smiles and touches.

With each fleeting moment, Eli found himself falling further in love. 

“We should go,” Lyste sighed, as Eli drew closer to him in the empty corridor.

“I don’t want to,” Eli’s fingers finding the lieutenant’s.

Lyste smile always had a playful quirk to it. “Neither do I.”

“Yogar,” Eli’s words collected on his tongue, words of promises and passion and love...so many words…

Lyste stopped them all with a sudden kiss. His lips were soft, his taste intoxicating, his gentle sounds enough to draw the very breath from Eli’s lungs.

“Eli…” Lyste breathed.

A squad of troopers marched their way down the hallway and broke up the brief embrace. 

_ I could see a future with that man _ , Eli thought as Lyste and he parted ways.

Eli Vanto decided the next time they had a moment alone he would profess his love for Yogar Lyste.

Unfortunately, the galaxy had other plans…

Lyste was arrested for treason the very next day, and the romance was cut short before it could truly begin.

It was an outrageous claim. There was no proof that any treachery existed except for some weak circumstantial evidence. Even Thrawn didn’t seem invested in the conviction, and the head ISB Agent, Colonel Yularen, refused to return Eli’s inquiries. There was something else afoot here.

Eli was no lawyer, but the defense assigned to Lyste clearly didn’t believe he was innocent, and had been chosen by the Emperor himself. If Lyste was going to have a fighting chance at clearing his name, Eli was going to build a defense for him.

Eli worked tirelessly on the case: building up character witnesses, alibis, records of communications of personal and public correspondence. Thrawn had helped in small, but significant ways, and had eventually convinced Yularen to do the same. Their testimonies and evidence only solidifying what Eli already knew: Lyste was no traitor, and in fact, was one of the most unshakably loyal officers in the entire Empire.

During the long weeks before the trial, Lyste kept his spirits up. He kept his uniforms as neatly pressed as one could under such circumstances. He made sure his hair was always neatly combed despite it starting to grow past his ears. And he always wore that same quirky smile and glittery gaze whenever Eli entered the room. 

Lyste constantly asked about his supply officers-in-training. He worried they weren’t keeping to their schedules, and fretted over the deadlines set before and after his imprisonment. Eli gave him updates as much as he could, but Lyste worried all the same. He asked about Grand Admiral Thrawn and Admiral Konstantine’s welfare as well. He hoped they were not overworking themselves, especially Konstantine, who stressed over so many things, and not enough about himself. 

Most often though, Lyste worried about Eli.   
“You haven’t slept, Eli. You need to sleep.” Lyste would scold often.   
Eli always shrugged. “Yeah, well, I'll sleep good n’ proper when you're on the other side of these bars.”

“If…” Lyste would always correct.

“ _ When _ ,” Eli would insist.

“Alright… ‘when’...” Lyste would relent.

But his smile was never a convincing one. 

\-----

The day before the trial Eli brought in a fresh dress uniform and a grooming kit for Lyste.

“Ya should probably trim your sideburns shorter,” Eli commented as Lyste carefully clipped his dark locks.

Lyste looked at Eli through the reflection of the mirror, positively aghast. “Absolutely not! I am very fond of my sideburns. They are a  _ perfect  _ length.”

“Well, yeah they’re nice n’ all, but I’ve never seen an officer keep ‘em that long before.”

Lyste threw him an impish grin. “That is because no one can pull it off quite like I can. But I assure you Imperial Regulations state this length is acceptable so long as it's well-trimmed. Which, these are.” After a moment, Lyste asked. “You really like them?”

Eli grinned. “Yeah, they’re real nice, darlin’!” Eli’s eyes went wide. “I...uh...I mean...Yogar…sorry.”

“I like it,” the lieutenant replied, softly. “I like the way you say ‘darling’ with your accent.”

“Yeah?” Eli rubbed his neck and smiled sheepishly. “Well...it fits ya...”

Lyste’s face fell a little. He held out his hands and Eli took them, feeling how cold they were in the drafty cell. 

“Eli, thank you for everything you have done for me. If die tomorrow at least my life will end knowing I had someone like you in it.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Eli snapped, shaking Lyste’s hands sharply. “You aren’t dying. I won’t let you die.”

Lyste’s face had a serenity to it, a calm acceptance that made Eli’s blood run cold. “The Emperor’s going to do what he will. Just promise me, if they execute me, do not blame yourself. You did all you could for me.”

Eli felt hot tears run down his face. 

“Promise me, Eli?”

“I promise,” Eli whispered. 

Lyste pressed his face between the bars, and Eli came in close. As they kissed, Eli committed to memory just how soft and full those lips were, memorizing every fraction of a second of that single moment. When it was over, it was over too soon.

“You should go. I need to sleep before the hearing.”

“Can I stay?”

Lyste blinked. “Stay?”

“Can I stay here with you, tonight?”

Lyste looked down at the cold ground and frowned. “You will not be very comfortable.”

Eli shrugged. “I don’t need to be comfortable. I want to be with you. Just...let me stay?”

“Yes...I think I would love that.” Some of the sadness lifted from Lyste’s face. “Please stay with me.” 

Eli shrugged off his tunic, and bundled it up to use as a pillow. 

Lyste plopped his own pillow on the ground. 

They stretched their arms through the bars and held each other as best they could.

Eli fell asleep dreaming of what it would be like to lie with Lyste’s head on his chest. He imagined they would be a perfect fit for each other.

\-----    
Lyste was right - Palpatine had no qualms about executing an innocent man. 

His death convinced the  _ real  _ traitor, ISB Agent Kallus, that he was no longer suspected in being Fulcrum. The Empire soon after set a trap for him.

And it failed.

It had seemed Lyste’s death had been in vain.   
It was as if Eli’s heart had been blasted away by the very same firing squad that took his beloved Lyste from him.

He had promised Lyste that he would not blame himself, and he truly made an effort not to...but he spiraled just the same.

He worked constantly, taking on other’s shifts, signing up for missions he was not necessarily needed to do, oversaw the cargo bay even after they transferred in a new Supply Master. He avoided sleep and the inevitable dreams of that impish smile and glittering eyes.  

After weeks of this, Thrawn could no longer ignore his former aide’s deteriorating state. Eli was on the verge of collapsing on the bridge one day when Thrawn finally intervened. 

“Follow me, commander,” Thrawn said, walking off the bridge before Eli could argue.

Their walk was a fog to Eli, but eventually they ended up at his quarters. Eli felt his stomach sink. He didn’t want to sleep. 

“I’m fine, sir.”

“You are not,” Thrawn’s voice was sharper than Eli had ever heard it. He punched the control panel and walked into Eli’s quarters, insisting the commander follow. When the door closed he asked, this time in a softer tone, “Is this about the late Lieutenant Lyste?” 

Hearing Lyste’s name punched Eli in the gut, and he couldn’t suppress his wince.

Thrawn tilted his head. “I was not aware you two were involved.”

Eli didn’t respond.

“For what it is worth...I believed he was innocent.”

“He  _ was  _ innocent,” Eli shot back. “Everyone knew it and he died anyway. And for what? Kallus escaped. It was all for nothin’.”

Thrawn stood silent for a long moment watching Eli’s tears pour freely down his face.

“You are correct,” Thrawn said, finally. “Lyste did not deserve this. I apologize for the hand I had in his death. I feel...responsible.”

Eli wiped his nose and sniffed. “It’s not like you really had a choice. If it wasn’t Lyste, it would have been Pryce or Konstantine or someone else…I just wish, it had been me...Lyste, out of anyone in the Empire, didn’t deserve this.”

Thrawn was silent for a moment, his eyes looking out of the viewport in Eli’s room and into the Blackness of space, but his crimson irises darted around, unfocused, as if working out a formula in his head.

“When I lost Max at the Battle of Hoth I truly thought my life was over. It was as if the very air had been taken from my lungs. I do not know how I would be today had the Emperor not summoned him back to the corporeal existence.”

“No offense, sir,” Eli said, “but the Emperor isn’t gonna let me summon Lyste from the dead. Max was the Major General of the Imperial Army. Lyste was just...he was a Supply Master. A good one, but...”

“Perhaps not.” Thrawn’s voice was distant, an air of mystery around him. “One never knows. I would not lose hope, commander.” 

Before Eli could say another word, Thrawn left his quarters.

Exhaustion soon took over and Eli passed out before his head his his pillow.

\-----

The Sith holocron appeared on the edge of the bed.

Eli had been staring at it for nearly half an hour now, afraid to move towards it.

How did it get there?

No one had been in his quarters, he was sure of it. The door was still locked with reinforced mechanisms on the inside. 

Cautiously, Eli moved to the edge of the bed and picked it up.

It felt...evil. The heat of its surface came in hellish waves, yet did not burn his hands. The purple-glass edges pulsated. There was a low hum to it, melodious and sinister. 

He didn’t want to open it. This was the Dark Side and beyond his understanding. Plus, wasn’t this Palpatine's holocron? He’d have to be a kriffing lunatic to want to fiddle with the Emperor’s property. 

_ “Eli…” _

Eli flinched and looked around. 

“Lyste?”

The voice echoed within his head.

_ “If die tomorrow, at least my life will end knowing I had someone like you in it.” _

Eli tried to shake away Lyste’s words, as they repeated again...and again...

_ “If die tomorrow...” _

The tighter he clutched the holocron, the louder the words seemed to be.

_ “...at least my life will end knowing...” _

Flashes of Lyste’s smiling face rolled around in Eli’s head. 

_ “...I had someone like you in it.” _

Painful memories of the final kiss that he would remember for a lifetime.

_ “Please…” _

And that last, tender smile he would never see again. 

_ “Stay with me.” _

The holocron opened with a serpentine hiss. Like a flower with razor petals, it bloomed exposing a small pearl of purple light. The light extended beyond the small pyramid and transformed into the holographic image of an incantation.  

The words were old, unreadable.

But then shifted. 

The words blurred and changed until Eli was staring at aurebesh and Basic language. 

Eli did not realize he was speaking the words aloud until the room went dark. A crackle came from the lamp on his desk and the floor lights. He felt a pounding in his head, and as he closed his eyes, Lyste was there to greet him, to smile and kiss and hold and…

Eli let out a choked sob, forcing his eyes open.

He was alone. The holocron was gone.

“L...Lyste?” he called out to the darkness.

There was no answer. 

Of course there wasn’t.

Eli blamed it on exhaustion as he sank back into his bed.

_ Just a dream... _   
\-----

A strange phenomenon beset the Imperial officers of the  _ Chimaera. _

Left shoes were going missing throughout the star destroyer.

Some while they were outside their cabins waiting to be shined; others while they were asleep, the boots tucked in the closet. 

Occasionally, the boots were returned right where it was left. In addition to possessing small puncture wounds and scratches on the leather, the boots were also peculiarly clean.

Left Slippers went missing next. 

Unlike the boots, they were never seen again. 

A few weeks droned by and Eli barely noticed the peculiar crimes. 

His own boots were safe. 

At least for a little while. 

\-----

Eli had promised Thrawn he would not overwork himself, but over the next month he still snuck down into the cargo bay to check on the supply officers and make sure all was running smoothly. The new Supply Master they assigned was not bad and was happy to learn a thing or two from Eli.

“Go ahead, Kevers,” Eli said, running through the checklist on his datapad. “I’ll close up here after I run inventory.”

“You’ve already double-checked my numbers, sir,” Kevers said, frowning. 

Eli shrugged. “Never can be too careful, and we need to make sure these numbers are accurate. These crates are to be deployed to the Executor next rotation.”

Kevers paled. “Fair enough. Thank you, sir!”

Eli maintained his smile until Kevers left. When the door slid shut he let his face relax, exhaling a long breath.

“We’re alone,” Eli sighed, walking over to a small pile of crates in the far corner of the cargo bay. He knew it wasn’t healthy to keep Lyste’s belongings stashed away in a high-traffic cargo bay, but he was not going to let Lyste’s memories be tossed into an incinerator.

It also wasn’t healthy to spend his spare time hanging out and talking with those belongings as if Lyste was right next to him.

But it helped…

Eli kicked off his boots, took off his tunic and put them in a neat pile on one of the smaller crates. He then hoisted himself on the largest box, stretched out across the cool surface. He tucked his hands beneath his head and drew in a deep breath. 

“Hey darlin’...” he began, speaking quietly, but loud enough that maybe Lyste, wherever he was, could hear him. “Kevers...that’s the new Supply Master, he seems to be doin’ real well. He’s managing to stick to your rigid schedules. When I was training him, I noticed you always added an extra day to your estimated delivery times. I thought it was unnecessary at first, but Life Day’s this month, and it seems a trend that the deliveries are a day behind. That was good thinkin’, Yogar.”

Eli smiled up at the high ceilings. “I miss you, darlin’.” Saying it aloud made his heart ache. “I miss you so much. I know we didn’t know each other that long, but...you were the best parts of my days. Hell, if I’m bein’ honest -it’s just me n’ a bunch of crates here anyway- I think I was in love with you from the moment I met you.”

Eli felt the moisture surface in his eyes. “I’ll never stop loving you, darlin’…”

The lights went out.

Eli shot up to a sitting position. “What the-”

A low growl sounded in the quiet of the cargo bay. 

“Kriff…” Eli drew up his legs in a crouch. 

Thrawn had often encouraged Eli to keep a blaster on his belt like he did, but Eli always thought it was a bit excessive. Now he really wished he had listened to the grand admiral.

He heard the sound of his own boot be dragged away. 

“Dammit!” He fumbled around his belt pouch, and pulled out a small penlight. Flicking it on, the penlight cast a narrow beam on the ground in front of him. 

His right boot was there, but the left was gone. 

A scratching sound traveled across the cargo bay floor. The penlight flicked wildly around the ground until he spotted a small shadow. It paused and for a brief moment the light hit it. 

Eli paled.

A pair of glittering black eyes stared back at him. 

The creature was ghastly pale with purple-stained claws and a black arrow-tipped tail that lashed menacingly at Eli as they stared at each other. Eli’s boot hung from its mouth, long fangs poking through the thick leather.

Eli’s focus moved to the pair of gray curved horns on the creature’s forehead…

...and the pair of well-trimmed sideburns along its smooth face.

_ “Well, yeah they’re nice n’ all, but I’ve never seen an officer keep ‘em that long before.” _

_ “That is because no one can pull it off quite like I can.” _

“Yogar?”

A small, fanged smile crept along its lips…

Then it bolted into the darkness. 

“Wait! No! Come back!”

_ It couldn’t be...the spell didn’t work. It didn’t! _

Eli’s heart was pounding in his ears as he ran, the light doing very little to guide his path. The creature was close still, scampering a few yards at a time before pausing, as if waiting for Eli to follow. When Eli caught up to the creature again, it disappeared between a pair of large crates.

“Yogar?” He slowed his steps and carefully navigated through labyrinth of crates towering over him. 

Behind the largest crate was a smaller wooden box no higher than Eli’s shoulders marked  _ TIE AP-14 Parts (Misc.) _ . The crate looked old, most likely forgotten since there were only a handful of TIE Fighters with TR-14 trackers anymore since the TR-16s came out.

The creature disappeared into a splintered hole in the side of the box.

The penlight shone downwards.

Part of him feared what he would find in the crate. A larger part feared there would be nothing in the crate at all. Was he going mad with grief? Did he unleash something that wasn’t Lyste at all?

_ But what if it’s him. What if I get my Yogar back? _

What if…

Slowly, Eli knelt down in front of the hole. He kept the penlight pointed at the floor, letting the crate fill with a gloomy illumination.

The first thing Eli noticed were shoes.

So many shoes. 

Boots and sandals and slippers of all sorts. All of them scratched and chewed. All of them cleaned or polished. His boot sat atop the pile as if it had been reverently placed there.

A deep sound came from the far corner. It could have been a growl, but it almost sounded like a jungle cat’s purr.

“Yogar?” Eli felt his mouth go dry. “Is that you, darlin’?”

The purr immediately ceased.

“E…” the voice was soft. “Eee…”

Eli’s heart lurched. “Darlin’, it’s me.”

“E...li….E...e….li…Eli?”

Eli squinted in the darkness. He could see the small pale figure. The dark glassy eyes. And by the time his vision grew used to the gloom, he spied that the creature was crouched down, preparing to pounce.

“Wa-wait!” Eli cried.

“Eli!” The creature cried back, launching forward.

With a yelp, Eli was knocked backwards on his rump. He braced for teeth sinking into his exposed neck, claws shredding his chest, or horns butting against his face.

Instead...he just received a tight hug.

“Eli...Eli...Eli!” The voice was as rich and deep as ever, and with it came an ethereal quality, a harmony of voices to it. It was almost like the demonic tone of Veers, only softer, less severe.

This was him. This was his Lyste.

Eli’s arms wrapped around the creature’s back, feeling the bare skin flare with heat through the sleeves of his own tunic. A sweet smoky scent filled Eli’s nostrils as he pressed his face against the demon’s dark hair. 

“Is it really you?” he whispered. “What happened, darlin’?”

Lyste lifted his head and for the first time Eli could see the creature’s face clearly. 

The face, though so different, was just as beautiful as the day Eli met Lieutenant Lyste.

Gone were the crystal blue irises and the white that surrounded them. Instead, Lyste’s eye sockets were now home to a glittering darkness, as if the creature had captured the very essence of deep space and all its beauty, containing them in a pair of shining eyes.

A pair of small gray horns poked out of Lyste’s thick purple-black hair, and a pair of sharp fangs peeked out between full red lips. His clawed hands were pressed against Eli’s chest, deep purple skin running up the length of his forearms. His chest was a bit thicker than it had been in life, more toned and muscular though not by much. 

With a blush, Eli realized that Lyste was naked. 

“Eli?” Lyste asked, tilting his head.

“Yeah, it’s me darlin’.”

Lyste’s face broke into a wide smile, exposing his long needle-like fangs. His tail shot into the air and Eli watched it curl and wind into the shape of a heart.

“Eli!” Lyste let out a deep rumbling purr. He then pulled away and hopped over to the pile of boots and slippers, plucking Eli’s boot from the top and handing it back to him.

“Thanks,” Eli slid his boot back. “You took all these shoes, huh?”

Lyste looked back at his collection then back at Eli and nodded proudly. 

Eli frowned. “But why?”

Lyste let out a series of short purrs, his face scrunching in thought. Then pointed to Eli’s boot. “Eli.”

“My boot?”

“I believe I have the answer to that, commander,” a voice said.

Eli shot to his feet and instinctively stood in front of Lyste’s crouching form as a shadowy figure stepped into view. 

Lyste seemed undisturbed by the newcomer and nuzzled Eli’s calf. 

“Sir?!” Eli blinked at Thrawn. “What are you doing here?”

Grand Admiral Thrawn tucked his hands behind his back, his glowing red eyes studying Eli and the demon beside him.

“Testing out a theory,” Thrawn replied. “I do apologize for keeping you in the dark.”

“You  _ knew _ about him?”

“I had no proof of Lieutenant Lyste’s resurrection, as he continued to elude me. However, I had noticed that the strange phenomenon of missing boots reminded me of the lieutenant, specifically because he had only taken the left shoe.”

Eli frowned. “Yeah? So?”

“The only ones returned to their rightful owners were boots of high-ranking officers. Mine included. I noticed that in addition to the small tooth and claw marks, the leather was thoroughly polished.”

Eli blinked. “The left boot...polished…” he looked back at Lyste and found he was no longer behind him, but at his side with a soft cloth, polishing Lyste’s boot, humming to himself.

“Do you recall your first meeting with Lieutenant Lyste?” Thrawn asked.

“He…” Eli swallowed, feeling a lump of emotion in his throat. “He spilled caf on my boot when we first met.” He looked back at Thrawn. “Do you think that’s why he’s doing it?”

Thrawn nodded. “When Max came back to me, his mind was fractured. Coming back into the corporeal world takes a toll on the demon’s mind. Meaningful memories always surface first, and eventually the rest follows.”

“What was Max’s first memory when he came back?”

Eli spied Thrawn’s jaw tighten. “An intimate one between he and myself.”

“I see…” Eli said and didn’t press the matter. He looked back at Lyste and knelt down.    
“Eli!” Lyste’s tail curled back into a heart.

“He’s a demon then?”

“An imp, actually,” Thrawn corrected. “I have done extensive research on the different celestial types that can be summoned. An imp will eventually evolve into an incubus overtime. Do you know what that is?”

Lyste tilted his head at him with a wide smile. It may have been a trick of the light, but Eli could have sworn there were small hearts in those dark orbs. 

“Yeah...yeah I do.” Eli said, feeling his face warm. 

“It will take time and a great deal of patience, but Lyste will return to who he once was with the addition of his more demonic qualities.” Thrawn said. “Max is more or less his former self, if not moreso.” With a soft smile, Thrawn added. “His self-esteem was of demonic proportions even in life.”

Eli knelt down next to Lyste. “Thank you, sir,” he said, reaching out to Lyste and Lyste hopping over to hug him again. 

Thrawn tilted his head. “For what?”

“For giving me the holocron.”

Thrawn frowned. “I did not provide it to you. I had assumed you found it on your own.”

Eli blinked. “N-no. It was on my bed…” He felt a small tingle down his spine. “How did it get there.”

Thrawn seemed to be considering the question. “I do not know. The Force is a hard entity to quantify. It is unpredictable. However, this is a gift you have been given, Eli. It is a second chance for you both. If you have any questions or need any assistance from someone who has lost a love and found a demon, I will be here to give you my expertise.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Thrawn turned to address Lyste directly. “When your faculties are restored, young Lyste, Max will also be of assistance to you as well.”

Lyste’s eyes rounded at Thrawn and he let out a loud purr, his arrow-tipped tail wagging happily.

“He’ll be okay, sir?”

“Yes.” Thrawn replied. “I believe in your care he will do quite well. I’ll leave you two now. Good luck to you, and congratulations.”

When Thrawn left, Eli and Lyste sat and gazed at each other. 

It was hard to believe Lyste was back. It was even harder to believe he had returned as a demonic imp.

Somehow the new form suited him. Just as being a demon fit Veers perfectly. Thrawn was right, the demon general always had that verile sort of charisma about him and it was elevated by his new form. With Lyste, however, there was always a small mixture of mischievousness and love that seemed to be emphasized in this new form. 

In life, Lyste was a loyal, caring officer, but when the uniform came off, when it was just he and Eli, the commander was delighted to find that Lyste had a fun, impish side even before growing horns.

He supposed being an imp fit rather well with him. 

“Eli?” Lyste chirped.

“Hey, darlin’...” Eli felt tears streak down his cheeks and Lyste stretched out a clawed finger to catch them. “Eli, Eli…” Lyste said, his thick dark eyebrows lifting in distress.

“I’m okay. I just...I never thought I’d see ya again.”

Lyste beamed and ventured closer, his slender body sliding onto Eli’s lap and Eli gathered him up in his arms. 

“Eli…” Lyste purred, and wrapped his tail around Eli’s arm. “Can...stay…? Darling...stay…?”

Eli’s heart panged, his mind slipping back to the last night they spent together, prison bars between them. 

“Yeah, darlin,” he whispered, hugging him a little tighter. “I’ll stay with you.”

They slipped into the crate. Eli cushioning himself against a pile of soft slippers, drawing Lyste in close. 

Their embrace was how Eli had always imagined it: Lyste laying his head on Eli’s chest, Eli stroking his hair, their arms and legs tangled together, a perfect fit. 

Sure, there were small horns rubbing against Eli’s chin; and Lyste was not only as warm as Eli had imagined, but practically a furnace. 

_ And truly I need to find him some clothes. _

Yet, despite these small additions, despite the loss and heartache it took to get to this point, Eli Vanto achieved what he truly wanted: Having Yogar Lyste safe in his arms.

 

 


End file.
